Miss the President’s Speech Last Night? Watch it Here

Barack Obama speaks about health care

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At a Joint Session of Congress, the president’s speech last night outlined his health care reform plan and addressed controversies and misunderstandings that have surrounded it.The series of videos at the end of this post shows his full speech, but if you don’t have time to watch it, here are some highlights.

The president’s speech last night started off nice and friendly as he spoke about the things Congress and regular Americans generally agree on. He opened by talking abou the economy and acknowledging that we are still deep in the midst of a recession.

President’s speech last night well received

President Barack Obama got his first standing ovation about a minute into his speech when he said “I will not let up until those Americans who seek jobs can find them.” This is great news for people who want to get payday advances, because you need paydays to get payday cash advances.

A hard-hitting moment came in the president’s speech last night when Obama, referring to health care, said “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.” Very loud cheering followed, and it seemed he had his audience in the palm of his hand.

President’s speech last night part one

The first item on Obama’s agenda last night was outlining and explaining the health care bill currently making its way through Congress. The plan has two main parts, he said. The first part “makes what you already have work better for you,” he said.

In the president’s speech last night, he emphasized that nothing in the plan requires people to change the health care coverage they already have. What it does do to existing health insurance is make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions or drop coverage when people get sick. It also gets rid of caps on coverage and adds caps on out-of-pocket expenses.

“In America, no on should go broke because they get sick,” Obama said.

President’s speech last night part two

Obama explained that the second major part of the health care plan provides a way for people without coverage to get it. The health care plan offers a public option for people who cannot get private insurance through their employer or afford to pay for private insurance.

The public option will be self-supporting, paid for by the premiums it collects. It won’t be paid for by taxes. People will be required to carry some type of basic health insurance — who they get it from is their choice — just as people are now required to have car insurance.

“Improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part,” Obama said.

And the evening takes a turn

Up until this point, the president’s speech was punctuated only by cheering and standing ovations. However, it was time to deal with the rough stuff. The president addressed the controversies that have come up because of the health care plan, fabricated by people and “spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost,” he said.

Joe Wilson became an instant celebrity — and in this case that is not a good thing — when he yelled “you lie!” after Obama said that the health care plan “will not cover those who are here illegally. You can see a short clip of that moment in my article about the web site called Joe Wilson is Your Pre-Existing Condition. To see the clip in its full context, check out the third video below. The moment of “truth” comes about two minutes in.

All kinds of good stuff

Luckily, that was the only disturbance that distracted from the president’s speech last night. He addressed concerns about how the public health care option will work, which will be similar to Medicare and Medicaid. He emphasized that it won’t put private health insurance companies out of business, much like public universities haven’t driven private colleges out of business. In fact, he believes only about 5 percent of Americans will sign up for the public health care option.

He said it will hold private insurance companies accountable and create competition that will drive prices down and quality up. He explains that the health care reform bill will not add to the deficit and will mostly be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system.

Watch the president’s speech last night

If you didn’t watch the president’s speech last night, I highly recommend that you check it out for yourself, as it definitely clears up a lot of confusion and gives you the information you need to form your own opinion about the health care reform bill.